JPH07287463A - Electrophotographic recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an electrophotographic recorder eliminating troublesome in the sorting out of papers by reducing the occurrence of curling even if a reverse ejecting path is provided. CONSTITUTION:The electrophotographic recorder is provided with a photoreceptor drum 1, an image fixing means 3 and a movable guiding mechanism 9 switching the destination of a paper sheet P fed from the image fixing means 3 from a face-up ejection region 5 where the recording surface of the paper P is turned upward to a face-down ejection region 7 where the recording surface is turned downward, the movable guiding mechanism 9 is composed of a switching lever 13 and a movable guiding lever 15 guiding the paper P to the face-down ejection region 7 linked with the switching lever 13 and the rotary shaft 3b of a pressure roller 3B is connected to the movable guiding lever 15. Further, a guiding mechanism 23 guiding the some movement of the pressure roller 3B to the upstream side of a paper carrying path R by the energization of the roller 3B by the operation of the movable guiding lever 15 is provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic recording apparatus, and more particularly to an electrophotographic recording apparatus incorporated in a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile or the like for use.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of recording apparatus, the curl amount of the recording paper generated in the fixing process is the same regardless of whether the paper is face-up discharge or face-down discharge. Or, in the face-down discharge, since the process is different, the route from the fixing device to the discharge port is different.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional example, since the path from the fixing device to the discharge port is different between face-up discharge and face-down discharge, the recording paper discharged due to the influence thereof is affected. The remaining curl amount has a disadvantage that the curl amount remains larger when the reverse discharge path is provided, for example. For this reason, when the documents are arranged, there is a problem that it takes time to handle the curls due to the different curl amounts.

[0004]

It is an object of the present invention to improve the inconveniences of the conventional example, and particularly to reduce the amount of curl even when the reverse discharge path is provided, thereby eliminating the trouble of organizing documents. To provide a recording device,
To that end.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a cylindrical photosensitive drum which is arranged on a sheet conveying path and transfers developed predetermined information to a sheet, and a cylindrical photosensitive drum which is provided on the downstream side of the photosensitive drum and is provided on the sheet. An image fixing unit that fixes the transferred information with a heating roller and a pressure roller, and a sheet sent from the image fixing unit from a face-up discharging area facing upward of the recording surface to a face-down discharging area facing downward of the recording surface. A movable guide mechanism for switching and a frame body that supports the movable guide mechanism are provided.

The movable guide mechanism is composed of a switching lever and a movable guide lever which operates in conjunction with the switching lever and guides the sheet to the face-down discharge area.

Then, the rotary shaft of the pressure roller is connected to the movable guide lever, and the pressure roller is urged by the operation of the movable guide lever to move the pressure roller along the heating roller to the upstream side of the sheet conveying path to some extent. The fixed guide mechanism for guiding the movement is provided in the frame body described above.
This aims to achieve the above-mentioned object.

[0008]

[Operation] The toner image transferred onto the sheet P is heated and pressurized and fixed on the sheet P by the heating roller 3A and the pressure roller 3B of the image fixing unit 3. Then, when this fixing process is completed, the paper P is discharged from the discharge roller 17 as shown by an arrow B.
It is discharged to the side of the switching lever 13 that functions as a face-up stacker via A and 17B.

On the other hand, when the switching lever 13 is operated to switch the paper P to the upper face-down discharge area 7,
The movable guide lever 15 is biased by the switching lever 13
Is fixed by rotating clockwise by a predetermined angle (for example, 45 °). As a result, the paper P sent from the image fixing means 3 is moved by the movable guide lever 15 and the paper guides 7A, 7A.
It is guided to B and sent to the face-down discharge area 7.

In this case, the rotary force of the movable guide lever 15 is urged by the switching lever 13. At the same time, the movable guide lever 15 is pressed in the right direction (direction of arrow C) in FIG. 1 by the pressing action of the switching lever 13. As a result, the pressure roller 3B is guided by the elongated guide hole 23 and moves to some extent upstream of the sheet conveyance path R along the heating roller 3A.

As a result, in the case of face-down discharge, the shaft center of the pressure roller 3B is moved to the right in FIG. 1, so that the angle at which the paper P enters the image fixing means 3 and the image fixing means. The toner image on the paper P is fixed by changing the discharge angle from the sheet 3. Therefore, the curl direction generated by the fixing process is different from that of the concave guide arc surface after the image fixing unit 3, and the curl of the paper P can be reduced.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates a cylindrical photosensitive drum, and reference numeral 3 indicates an image fixing means. The photosensitive drum 1 is provided along the paper transport path R and has a function of transferring predetermined information with toner attached to the paper P. Further, the image fixing means 3 is provided on the downstream side of the photosensitive drum 1 and is configured to heat and fix the information transferred onto the paper P by the heating roller 3A and the pressure roller 3B.

Further, the traveling direction of the paper P sent out from the image fixing means 3 is switched from the face-up discharge area 5 for discharging the recording surface upward to the face-down discharge area 7 for discharging the recording surface upward. A movable guide mechanism 9 is equipped. The movable guide mechanism 9 is supported by the frame 11. The face-up discharge area 5 is arranged in the upper portion of FIG. 1, and the face-down discharge area 7 is arranged in the left end portion of FIG. The arrow A indicates the range of rotation of the movable guide mechanism 9.

The movable guide mechanism 9 has a switching lever 13 having a function as a face-up stacker, and a movable guide lever that operates in conjunction with the switching lever 13 to guide the paper P to the upward face-down discharge area 7. 15 and 15. Reference numerals 7A and 7B denote paper guides.

Of these, the switching lever 13 has its rotation fulcrum 13a disposed on the left side portion of the pair of paper discharge rollers 17A and 17B in FIG. 1, and normally, as shown in FIG. It is extended horizontally, and when the paper P is sent to the upper face-down discharge area 7, the paper P is rotated upward by about 90 ° along the reference symbol A so as to be fixed at the position of the imaginary line. It has become. Further, the switching lever 13 is provided with a long hole 13A at the center thereof along the longitudinal direction.

The movable guide lever 15 has one end engaged with the elongated hole 13A described above, and the other end rotatably connected to the rotation support shaft of the pressure roller 3B described above. As a result, when the paper P is delivered to the face-up discharge area 5 on the left side, the switching lever 13 and the movable guide lever 15 are arranged at the positions shown by the solid line in FIG. .

Further, a fixed guide mechanism which is urged by the operation of the movable guide lever 15 and guides the pressure roller 3B to move to the upstream side of the sheet conveying path R along the heating roller to some extent, is a frame. It is provided on the body 11. In the present embodiment, this fixed guide mechanism is formed by a guide long hole 23 for guiding the pressing roller 3B to move to the upstream side of the sheet conveying path R via the supporting shaft portion.

Further, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 2A indicates a charger for uniformly charging a predetermined charge on the photosensitive drum 1, and reference numeral 2B indicates an exposure device for forming an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 1. Reference numeral 4A indicates a developing roller for developing toner on the photosensitive drum 1, and reference numeral 4B indicates a transfer device for transferring a toner image onto the paper P sent from the recording paper cassette 50. Further, reference numeral 4C indicates a cleaner for removing the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 1, and reference numeral 4D indicates a static eliminator for electrostatically initializing the surface of the photosensitive drum 1.

Further, in FIG. 1, a recording paper cassette 50 is provided.
The paper feeding section is equipped with a paper feed roller 51. The paper P sent out by the paper feed roller 51 is sent out to the above-described paper carrying path R by the paper guide 52 and the pair of guide rollers 52A and 52B and sent to the photosensitive drum 1. Also, reference numerals 54A, 5
Reference numeral 4B indicates a paper discharge roller provided in the face-down discharge area 7.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

The toner image transferred onto the paper P is heated and pressed and fixed on the paper P by the heating roller 3A and the pressure roller 3B of the image fixing means 3. When these series of processes are completed, the paper P is discharged to the switching lever 13 side, which functions as a face-up stacker, via the discharge rollers 17A and 17B as indicated by arrow B.

On the other hand, when the switching lever 13 is operated to switch the paper P to the upper face-down discharge area 7,
The movable guide lever 15 is biased by the switching lever 13
Is fixed to the position of the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 1 by rotating it about 45 ° clockwise. As a result, the paper P delivered from the image fixing means 3 is guided by the movable guide lever 15 and the paper guides 7A and 7B and delivered to the above-mentioned face-down ejection area 7 in the upward direction.

In this case, the movable guide lever 15 is adapted to be urged by its rotational force at the engaging portion with the elongated hole 13A of the switching lever 13. At the same time, the movable guide lever 15 is pressed in the direction of arrow C by the pressing action of the elongated hole 13A of the switching lever 13.
As a result, the pressure roller 3B is guided by the elongated guide hole 23 and moves to some extent upstream of the sheet conveyance path R along the heating roller 3A.

As a result, in the face-down discharge, the shaft center of the pressure roller 3B is moved to the right in FIG. 1, so that the angle at which the paper P enters the image fixing means 3 and the image fixing means. The toner image on the paper P is fixed by changing the discharge angle from the sheet 3. As a result, the curl direction generated by the fixing process is different from that of the concave guide arc surface after the image fixing unit 3, so that the curl of the paper P can be reduced. Then, the paper P that has completed this fixing process
Is discharged to the face-down discharge area 7 through the paper discharge rollers 54A and 54B as indicated by arrow E.

[0026]

Since the present invention is constructed and functions as described above, according to this, at the time of face-down discharge, the angle of entry and exit of the paper P to and from the image fixing means is determined after the paper P is discharged from the image fixing means. Since the curving direction of the concave guide arc is different from that of the conventional guide, the curl of the paper discharged in the face-down discharge area can be reduced as compared with the conventional one. Even if the paper is received, the curl amount of the recording paper is not much different from that when ejecting face-up, and therefore the troublesomeness in organizing documents can be effectively eliminated. Can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Photosensitive Drum 3 Image Fixing Means 3A Heating Roller 3B Pressure Roller 3b Rotating Shaft 5 Face-up Discharging Area 7 Face-down Discharging Area 9 Movable Guide Mechanism 13 Switching Lever 15 Movable Guide Lever 23 Guide Long Hole as Guide Mechanism R Paper Conveying Road

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cylindrical photosensitive drum which is arranged on a sheet conveying path and transfers the developed predetermined information to a sheet, and a heating roller which is provided on the downstream side of the photosensitive drum and transfers the information transferred onto the sheet. An image fixing unit for fixing with a pressure roller, and a movable guide mechanism for switching a destination of a sheet sent out from the image fixing unit in a face-up discharging area facing upward of the recording surface from a face-up discharging area facing upward of the recording surface. And a frame body that supports the movable guide mechanism, the movable guide mechanism including a switching lever and a movable guide lever that operates in conjunction with the switching lever to guide the sheet to a face-down discharge area. The rotary shaft of the pressure roller is connected to the movable guide lever, and the movable guide lever is urged by the operation of the movable guide lever. The pressure to the guide mechanism pressure roller for guiding the somewhat moved to the upstream side of the sheet conveying path along said heating roller, electrophotographic recording apparatus characterized in that provided in the frame. 2. The guide mechanism is a guide long hole for guiding the pressure roller to be moved to the upstream side of the sheet conveying path via a supporting shaft portion thereof.
The described electrophotographic recording device. 3. The electrophotographic recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressure roller is disposed below the heating roller.